A Mother’s Musings: Life, 60 Years After Independence And The Dreams We Hold For Our Motherland
President William Ruto and Pauline Waithera
By Eunice Wagachanja
Worth Noting:
- Both the National and County Governments are responsible for overseeing service delivery through effective and innovative use of taxes. It is also theirs, and to an extent, our responsibility to handhold the many who are vulnerable.
- From my assessment, President William Ruto seems to have it all figured out in his mind and in his Plan. He should do all he can to ensure every arm of government is working in tandem with little or no room for deviation. In this regard, immediate and severe consequences should be meted out on those entrusted with responsibilities to ensure the country takes off under the Bottom Up Economic Agenda (BETA) but choose the disappointing ‘stomach first approach’. In this one, the axe should fall and fall hard, ‘up-bottom’.
The ongoing rains have exposed our underbelly as a country and reminded us how vulnerable we are.
It is sad to see Nairobi and many other parts of the country “down under” with sewers overflowing, non-functional drainages, washed away or submerged roads, marooned/cut off families and worse still, lost lives.
This is the life we live 60 years after independence, yet some structures built over 60 years ago still stand and look great.
I don’t want to digress, but it looks like civil engineering and architectural disciplines were years ahead of our current times.
That is a story for another day.
To live well in Nairobi and everywhere else in the country, we should first all pay taxes willingly on condition that they pay for services due to us with no leakages.
Nothing is as inevitable as taxes and death, and our hard-earned taxes, which we voluntarily pay, should be used prudently.
Both the National and County Governments are responsible for overseeing service delivery through effective and innovative use of taxes. It is also theirs, and to an extent, our responsibility to handhold the many who are vulnerable.
From my assessment, President William Ruto seems to have it all figured out in his mind and in his Plan. He should do all he can to ensure every arm of government is working in tandem with little or no room for deviation. In this regard, immediate and severe consequences should be meted out on those entrusted with responsibilities to ensure the country takes off under the Bottom Up Economic Agenda (BETA) but choose the disappointing ‘stomach first approach’. In this one, the axe should fall and fall hard, ‘up-bottom’.
Mid, short and long-term planning should always be taken seriously. We should never have collapsing buildings, roads being washed away or submerged under floods, drainages overflowing with sewage and garbage, undesignated garbage dump sites or even slum dwellings. In the same breath, we should never have citizens in gainful employment, avoiding paying taxes or anyone vandalizing our hard-earned infrastructure or jumping traffic lights, for that matter. Boda-bodas moving at top speed on the wrong side of the road (even on dual carriageways), at times with dazzling LED lights on, a right rarely used by Ambulances and Fire fighting vehicles but frequently abused by not only some senior government officials but also many government and parastatals vehicle drivers.
I look forward to the day when our traffic officers will be empowered and courageous enough to act against such drivers and boda-boda operators without interference from any quarter.
Our NYS and armed forces should actively engage in national development, mainly rural infrastructure management and disaster mitigation, and management instead of staying in locked-up camps. They would be happy to earn some extra allowances and put their skills to practice on the ground, and in turn, the citizens would appreciate them more.
To illustrate the essence of national values, thousands of kilometres away, look at how hard-working Chinese families are. They are masters of multi-tasking, and no one requires any supervision. I like watching their rural setups on YouTube. I admire their planning and commitment. Also, the fact that the young and old play a part makes it a community that ‘pulls’ together. The Japanese are equally, if not more, zealous. Customer service in most of Asia is at an impressively high level. Unfortunately, back home, our attitude towards work is often wanting. Many employees can only work under close supervision. Desperate at entry, survivors upon confirmation. It is common to find full-time employees graduating with online degrees earned in the office. Some full-time employees also do part-time assignments for foreign students who are either wealthy or hustling and find it more cost-effective to ‘outsource’ assignments.
On the positive side, Kenyans are very hard-working and innovative. From rural folks to urban dwellers, many push themselves to limits to escape poverty. The third president of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki, taught us not to depend on handouts but on an enabling environment.
No one likes to be poor. If we engage our youths in anything that puts money in their pockets instead of wasting away in chang’aa and other killer drinks, we will go far as a country.
We often focus on what can be done for us and must remember what we can do for ourselves. I vividly remember my late grandfather. His land was well nurtured and had everything, as I saw it while young. From an orchard, a forest where you could occasionally see antelopes, lots of birds, swarms of bees, butterflies, termites, safari & sugar ants, monkeys, beetles, bats, spiders, millipedes, porcupines among others. Permanent and seasonal rivers continuously flowed with clean, clear water fresh air, and trees were nurtured and respected. The quality of life was, to say the least, very healthy. Most homesteads, regardless of the land size, grew potatoes, maize, beans, vegetables, fruits, cassava, arrow roots, sugar cane, Napier and other grasses, coffee, tea, and generally were self-reliant on feeding themselves. We reared cows, goats, sheep, pigs, chickens, and rabbits; almost every homestead had a cat and dog.
Sixty years after independence, it hurts to note that some of the systems our colonizers put in place have not been maintained, perfected, or taken to the next level. Think about Kenya Bus Service, which had a schedule. The Nairobi City Council developed estates and religiously collected garbage on predetermined days and times, maintained green poled street lights (that switched on and off in time), supplied water and maintained sewerage and drainages. Power outages were rare, no water rationing, and landlines were reliable.
Think about the fish and chips outlets that served mouth-watering portions at pocket-friendly prices. Remember the off-peak morning shows in Cinemas that allowed us to watch the latest movies affordably. Indeed, it is a memory dearly missed. A past to look forward to, I miss the Kenya of then.
Later, as fate would have it when the rain started beating us, we had to chase everything, including installing a landline. Corruption started this way, slowly entrenched itself and became a way of life. We have well-schooled people who need help to do much for themselves. We all want white-collar jobs. We do not want to cook or stitch torn garments (thanks to the proliferation of Mitumba; otherwise, many of us would be walking in tatters). Let us work hard and revisit the past that worked for us. During the good old days in the village, the government Vet was domiciled locally and did insemination frequently.
We had Agricultural extension officers who visited the farms, trained farmers, and monitored farm activities closely. On this one, we dropped the ball. We abandoned our farmers and stopped practising good crop rotation and terracing habits. We lost the discipline and went on a ‘costly’ and unnecessary land subdivision that is very uneconomical and sometimes breeds family fights and poverty (both mental and in deeds).
Our youth are forced to work hard to survive, so stolen exams have become a desire for many. Nobody can explain the current levels of unemployment. Currently, many poor people cannot afford two meals a day. Hunger is a way of life for many. Hunger should be eliminated by using all government land for agricultural purposes under schemes managed by agriculture experts. Good agricultural practices such as terracing should be a norm, not an exception. The utilization of farmlands should be purposeful and efficient. If one has only a quarter of an acre, they should focus on only two crops per season and avoid the folly of trying to do everything, including keeping a hungry cow instead of buying milk from a neighbour.
In this day and age, water should be piped to all homesteads in the country. Large-scale farmers and major consumers should dig boreholes. At the domestic level, we should take responsibility to ensure we are economical with water use. If we are smart in our water use, the water we have in Nairobi and elsewhere is enough for all of us. Years ago, when I lived in Mombasa, water rationing was the norm. Fortunately, we had a neighbour who had a borehole and gave water for free. The Mombasa people were generally very kind compared to their Nairobi City counterparts.
We should not sit and wait for El-Niño to wreak havoc as we see in Marsabit and have to take costly, desperate measures. We can copy good practices from elsewhere, such as a national day of cleaning covering all schools, public spaces and offices, markets, and prisons, among others. Dwellings must have toilet and bathroom facilities to be accepted. The government should roll out environmental cleaning and planting of trees. The fruits of our taxes should be enjoyed through service delivery. We deserve cities and towns that look nice, safe and serene.
Our politicians and leaders, who are very well-paid, should deliver and ensure the country gets to the next level. We cannot remain third-world forever. Neither can we afford to have citizens continuously slipping into poverty.
As in South Africa, China and elsewhere, our old trains, some abandoned at the Nairobi Railway Station, should be converted to mobile restaurants. It would be fun to dine in a train coach. This would also create employment and promote tourism at the same time.
Nairobi and all other cities and towns need clean streets, public toilets, functional drainages, working street lights and natural beautification. All public places, including hospitals and schools, should always be kept clean. There are enough trees in our nurseries that can be planted and nurtured to beautify our environment. Unemployed youths, many hungry and broke, should be engaged in clean up and maintenance. Let us start with small steps.
Given our excellent weather, why should we ever have to depend on food donations? Is it a state of mind? Why hasn’t education helped in addressing this? Why can’t we have the correct practices in agriculture and conservation? Will we live to see smart farms in our country and the elimination of pesticides?
Reduce, reuse, and recycle should be a way of life. Sadly, 60 years later, we are still fighting poverty, disease and ignorance.
Mrs. Eunice Wagachanja, is a dedicated mother, living in Nairobi with a dream for a better future for Kenya
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